Putin promises to sell 30% of oil exports to Asia-Pacific nations within a decade

September 17

At least 30% of Russia's oil exports will be going to Asia-Pacific nations within a decade, said Russian President Vladimir Putin during his meeting with the G8 parliamentary leaders in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

"We expect to go from today's 3% share of the Asia-Pacific region in Russia's oil exports to no less than 30% in a decade," he said, citing also two huge China-bound natural gas transport projects.

"Russia has been consistently diversifying supply routes and making them more reliable," he said, referring to the ongoing North European Gas Pipeline and Eastern Siberia-Pacific pipeline projects, and to the recently signed Russian-Hellenic-Bulgarian agreement on speeding up the construction of the Burgas -Alexandrupolis oil pipeline in the Balkans.

This, Putin said, relied on the unanimity on global energy security, reached at the St. Petersburg summit of G8 heads of state.

"Although this caused some debate at the first stage, eventually everyone agreed that producers need energy security as well as consumers. Only by considering one another's interests can we achieve positive results," the Russian president said.

He described G8 decisions as a means to support comprehensive long-term energy security plans covering all aspects from technological upgrades to supplies diversification, energy saving and alternative energy sources development.